Chronicles of the Stardust Knight
by angelswings217
Summary: Ten millennial after the Second Dogma War and a forgotten hero's sacrifice, the world has achieved an era of peace. Watch as a reincarnated hero builds a new legend, stops the return of Yshrenia, and attempts to protect this peace. May be T later on.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello there! To my returning subscribers, welcome back and I hope that this fan work will convince you to pick up a copy of **_**White Knight Chronicles.**_** And a note to those of you unfamiliar with the franchise: in **_**WKC2**_**, both games are crammed onto one disc. I would have LOVED to have known that when I bought a used copy of the first game. To newcomers, this may be my first WKC fiction, but I've already written a lot and I hope you look at some more of my work. **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own **_**White Knight Chronicles**_**. Please support the official release. **

**SPOILERS FOR BOTH GAMES! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**

**Tales of the Stardust Knight**

Chapter One

An End of One Story

Leonard pushed his way through the wall of Ladies-In-Waiting and maidservants. He heard whispers of "The Princess is smitten with him," and "He's a handsome one" as he ran down the hall. He ignored them. He ran all the way down the lavish hall, ignoring the stabbing pains that filled his entire body. He was still recovering from breaking free of Madoras' control—something that had been made to be nearly impossible to break free of ten millennia ago.

The bond was so strong that Leonard himself—along with his fellow Pactmakers whose Knights had once held shards of Madoras' soul—had acted as a physical anchor for Madoras, allowing the Yshrenian emperor to remain on Earth and plot his next campaign for world domination. So long as they were alive, Madoras would have been free to wait atop his ancient fortress. If it had been Leonard alone that linked Madoras to life, then he would have had Cyrus pierce his heart on the spot, but knowing that his friends also bore the burden… He could never bring himself to ask them to make such a sacrifice.

But Mureas had spoken through Cisna once more.

_The Demon King must be struck down thrice,_ the Athwani queen had said. _The maiden unbound by the chains of fate is the Key. Strike once when the wars begin and when the Key is unborn. Strike again when the Demon King returns and the Key shall fight along destined warriors—her closest friends. On the third strike the Key shall end the great wars once and for all. _

_She must fight the Demon King alone. _

No one wanted to agree with it—not even Cisna. Cyrus had proposed that Mureas may have been referring to him, but he hadn't been there when Madoras had stolen Leonard's body—he hadn't been there during the second strike. That (and the "maiden" part) meant that _she_ was the only possible candidate. Their dear friend was the only one that Mureas could possibly have been referring to. Unlike the Pactmakers or Eldore, she had chosen to follow them on their journey of her own free will—no preexisting obligations or destinies involved. She was neither Traveler nor Pactmaker nor reincarnation of a figure from the original Dogma Wars. She was unbound by the chains of fate, but still fought alongside them.

Leonard had been very adamant about trying to avoid sending her in alone at all costs. Even when finally convinced that she would have to go it alone, he suggested rushing the repairs to the Shagna and offering her air support. The magical barriers around Vellgander completely eliminated that option.

So Caesar had called on his resources back in Greede and had the finest craftsmen in the city create her the lightest and strongest armor ever made. Cisna commissioned the Court Mage to enchant this armor. Cyrus had found the fastest horse in Balandor's royal guard to get her to Vellgander. Yulie, Leonard and Kara had pooled their resources to get her some of the best potions available. Miu even showed up with a new staff for her. "Father Yggdra had our artisans make this from one of his branches. It is the Staff of Yggdra and its magical power is unrivaled," she'd said.

And so their dear friend had left. The wait was agonizing. Eventually, Cisna and Miu gave into their advisor's…advice…and stationed patrols around Vellgander as they waited for her to finish the fight with Madoras.

And she had. But not without paying a price.

Leonard came to see a grim-faced Cisna standing outside of their friend's room. Eldore and the other Pactmakers were there as well.

"Is she doing any better?" Leonard asked.

Kara frowned and entered the room. "See for yourself."

The lodgings were incredibly luxurious. One maidservant had said that they were only surpassed by Cisna's own bedchambers. There were large windows that offered a full view of the palace gardens and the full moon outside. The canopy bed was covered in some of the finest sheets in all of Balandor. A nearly lifeless girl lay underneath of them as gifted healers pumped blue energies into her body in a last-ditch effort to bring the young girl back to good health.

"She looks worse than you did when the White Knight…" Caesar cut himself off, realizing that it might have been too soon to start cracking jokes about why the White Knight had weakened Leonard—how the Yshrenian emperor within was trying to seize control of his body.

"How did this happen?" Leonard demanded. "She was drained of most of her mana after the battle—I get that! But we've been pumping her full of the divine magic and every potion around, and her condition hasn't improved at all."

Miu stepped in, her Farian headdress and robes elegantly swaying as she walked. "It is because she lacks more than a source of magic," the Archduchess explained.

"I don't get it," Yulie said.

Eldore stepped forward. "You see, think of life as a flame in an oil lamp; the oil is essentially the same as the life force in this case. When it's gone, the body shuts down."

Caesar groaned. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"During her battle with Madoras, she ran out of mana and started to rely on potions to replenish her supply of magic," Cisna explained. "When she ran out of potions, she tapped into her life force."

Leonard was speechless. Couldn't she have done something else? Fought Madoras hand-to-hand? His friend wasn't just a powerful mage, but she also knew her way around a short sword. She was one of the few Swordmages working for Balandor. Most were—or rather, had been—on Yshrenia's payroll. Of course not, Leonard told himself. Not only was Madoras an incredibly powerful mage, but he also somehow maintained his ability to become the White Knight despite no longer having its ark. Leonard had not seen it personally—he'd been trapped in the darkness of Madoras' soul—but his friends had explained everything; it had been _her_ magic that allowed them to break the White Knight and free Leonard of Madoras' control, for no normal attacks did any damage. Back then, they could offer her their support and even perform spells that could transfer their mana to her. The second time around, she didn't have that luxury.

Leonard and friends stepped closer to the weak figure. Even as she wheezed and barely clung to life, she managed to maintain that nigh-perpetual smile. But her tanned skin was now pale and cold. She could barely manage to keep her dark brown eyes open. It was absolutely heartbreaking.

"If she… If we can't…" Yulie had trouble finding the right words. "Could Yggdra do for her what he did for Kara?"

Miu shook her head. "When a flame is prematurely extinguished, the fuel is still there. It can be relit and continue to burn. Without fuel, the flame will not survive for long. If it survives at all"

"I'll give up some of my life force," Leonard offered. He felt responsible for his friend's condition. If he hadn't insisted on using the White Knight's power then Madoras might not have been able to possess him in the first place, and they wouldn't be in this mess. He had to help somehow.

"I will too!" Caesar interjected.

"As will I," Kara added.

And suddenly, they were all agreeing. Even Cyrus and some of the Palace Guard offered their life forces.

"It's the least we can do for the girl that avenged our king and ended the Dogma Wars once and for all," Cyrus explained.

"N-no…"

The room fell silent. The excited chatter about making such a noble sacrifice vanished as the girl that had silently fought alongside the Pactmakers finally spoke up outside of the battlefield.

"It… It doesn't…" Much to everyone's shock and dismay, she attempted to sit up, revealing the thin tunic and leggings she'd worn under her armor. Yulie and Kara attempted to get her to lay back down, but she refused. "It doesn't… Work like that."

"She's right," Eldore said. Everyone turned his attention to him as several maidservants helped to get the brave girl back under the bed sheets. "Once we've opened the pathway to our life forces, it can never be closed again. Our life forces will all come pouring out until nothing is left, even if we stop using it for magical purposes. Giving her your life force will extend her own by a day or two at the most, and you'll all also eventually die."

"So what you're saying is that it's pointless," Yulie realized.

Eldore was clearly not happy about being right.

"It isn't totally over," Miu said. She stepped towards her. "Father Yggdra foresaw this when we received word that the magical barriers around Vellgander had fallen. At that point the battle was already over and it was already too late for her, but fate is going to reward this hero for her sacrifice."

Their friend weakly stared at Miu and managed to smile. "You m…mean…?"

"For choosing to cut your own life short for the sake of others, you will be reborn. You will be given the chance to live a new life."

"She's going to be reincarnated?" Leonard breathed.

Miu nodded.

Caesar rushed to the girl's side. "Listen here. Even if this life is over, we're going to make sure that you live your next life to the fullest!"

Leonard imagined seeing his friend as a newborn infant. It was a strange thought. How would they even tell which child born in the next few years was their friend's reincarnation?

"I'm afraid that won't work that way," Miu said sadly. "When she is reborn, we will all have passed on. It will be another ten millennia before she walks this earth again."

"But why so many years from now?" Yulie asked. "Why does it have to be that way?"

"Because fate says so," Caesar grumbled.

Once more, the room fell silent.

"History… Can't remember me," she weakly mumbled.

The "Sinca Five" as some had come to call them, along with Eldore, Cisna, and Miu stood around their friend.

"Don't say things like that," Yulie sobbed. "You're going down in history as the girl that gave up everything to save everyone."

The girl shook her head and pulled something out from under the covers. Her hand trembling, she revealed an iron sphere with the insignia that all Knight Arks were engraved with.

"Is that…?" Kara breathed.

"It's a Knight Ark," Cisna realized. "But how? And you don't mean to say that it's _working_, do you?"

Everyone stared at her in shock. They all knew that the Knights no longer working was a blessing in disguise. Word of the Knights' power had spread far and had been heard by many ears. Now more than just the Yshrenians wanted their power, but since they no longer functioned, they were no more than antiques.

But there was a new Ark right before them—one that was not bound to Madoras, and thus, it was fully functional.

"How did you get that?" Eldore demanded.

She looked towards a Cat Girl standing in the corner.

"Framboise!" Cisna exclaimed. "Do you mean to tell me that you actually managed to create a Knight?"

The young inventor yelped and shook her head. "Well—not completely. I-I-I used materials she'd found in those portals that had appeared before. Half of the Knight was already made!"

A look of dismay took over Cisna's face. Mureas had been aware of Athwani attempts at replicating the Knights, just not of any successful ones.

"If… If she hadn't… Made me the Knight… I wouldn't…"

"Save your strength!" Cyrus ordered the girl as if she were one of his subordinates.

"Cyrus, it's pointless," Eldore told him.

The girl continued, "I would never… Have defeated… M…Mad…Madoras."

Her eyes fell closed, and the girl stopped speaking.

Their friend was gone.


	2. A New Generation

**Before you start freaking out about it, yes, I did get the inspiration for Neo Balandor from Cocoon's main city in _Final Fantasy XIII_. (JRPGs FTW!) Be forewarned, the earlier chapters are always a bit longer than the usual ones. (It's mostly because I have to establish the status quo.) **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own _White Knight Chronicles_. Please support the official release. **

**SPOILERS FOR BOTH GAMES! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**

**Tales of the Stardust Knight**

Chapter Two

Ten-Thousand Years Later

Alexander gazed out of the windows of the palace from the plush bed as the sun rose. The city's lights were dying away, and the countless vehicles moving through the airways suspended throughout the city no longer looked like shooting stars, but what they actually were: vehicles going to their everyday destinations. There was a positively massive plaza surrounding the palace—several miles in diameter—that existed for the purpose of making the palace easy to defend. Alex's home was placed within a wall of military-run skyscrapers filled to the brim with people born and raised to sacrifice their life for his safety.

Alex sighed and turned around, only to bump right into his tutor, Donar.

"Had trouble sleeping again, Alexander?" Donar asked.

Alex hid his frustration, but it came through in his voice. "I saw her again—the girl with the black hair. Dying."

"In this very room, I guess?" his tutor asked.

Alex solemnly nodded. "I'm always right here, and her friends are trying to do everything they can for her, and she's…" He had trouble finding the right words. "I don't know why I'm seeing that dream over and over again—with the Sinca Five, and Cisna…"

Donar put a hand on Alex's back. "I truly wish I knew. Perhaps it is because the Gods see this as an important date. You're coming of age? It is most likely causing the hands of fate to turn. The magic around you is shifting, thus causing these visions."

"Or perhaps because tomorrow will mark ten-thousand years since…" Alex trailed off.

"Since the Second Dogma War. Since those five brave children, and Lady Cisna finally defeated the Yshrenian Empire and deactivated the Knights once and for all."

Alex nodded and pulled his knees to his chest. "I looked into it—this room. Lady Cisna herself made a royal decree to never have it altered. There have been restorations, but it's never had a major change in appearance since before the Second Dogma War. But still, I can't find any records of something important happening here. Not of—of that girl's death."

"I looked into it as well," Donar said. "Why if I didn't know any better, I'd consider a cover up." He bit his lower lip.

"Well, so be it." Alex slid off the bed and stood up. He'd have to make it back to his room and get out of his nightgown before the guards saw him. They would never dare to make fun of him in his presence, but it still came as an injury to his pride. "Donar…" Alex began.

"Yes, Prince?"

"Since today I turn seventeen, could you do me a favor?"

"Of course. Say the word."

"I want to see the city for myself. I'm tired of only knowing Neo Balandor City through secondhand information. No more advisors, no more servants telling me about city life, and no more news articles handpicked by my mother."

"B-but, Majesty—!"

"If I want to rule my people justly, I need to know the truth for myself."

Donar nodded, acknowledging the truth of Alexander's words. "I understand. I'll make the arrangements."

"As a commoner."

Donar blinked. "What?"

"I want to see the city through the eyes of a normal citizen. Please make it so that I appear to be just another commoner. And please make sure that my mother doesn't know about this."

Donar gulped and said that he'd see what he could do.

(…)

Echo leaned against the windows of the train. It rushed through a mountain and all went dark for an instant. When their car came through the other side, a large city within shining walls came into view. The palace itself was barely clear. Even from their distance, the wall of government buildings that protected it almost completely surrounded the legendary palace. She could barely make out the higher towers in the distance.

Someone laughed.

Echo looked around. The way that she'd turned around in her seat and pressed her face against the glass put her in a position identical to that of a child a fraction of her age sitting next to her. A good half the train was sniggering at her. Her cheeks flushed, she turned around and sat back in a more composed position.

The child next to her suddenly sat back and tugged on her jacket. "Hey, lady! What's that you're wearing?"

Echo blinked and looked down at her clothing. In preparation for her moving to the academies in Neo Balandor City, her father had ordered some of the latest clothes for her. Rather than a simple tunic and cut-short trousers for warm weather, she was wearing a pair of brown shorts, sleek knee-high boots, matching shorts, a black shirt and an edgy white jacket with a hood. It had been a radical change from the usual farming gear she wore.

"What's that stuff on your back?"

Echo breathed a sigh of relief as she realized that he wasn't referring to her attire, but the airboard and staff strapped to her back.

"I know that's an airboard, but what's that stick thing?"

The boy's mother finally decided that her son's inquiry was becoming somewhat rude, so she tried to get him to leave Echo alone. However, Echo didn't see it as annoying; to her, it was typical behavior for a child. She'd been the oldest of several children and often earned money by watching children too young to work as their parents were out during the harvest. It was always around that time of year that Echo had already done her part; her skills in magic had ensured a plentiful harvest every year.

"It's a staff for magic," she said.

Then the half of the train that hadn't been sniggering at her suddenly stared. Echo felt her heart drop into her stomach as she realized her folly: strict regulations on the distribution of information involving magic had been implemented five-hundred years prior. At the time, the monster populations and resulting attacks had been brought under control. Thus, there was no need for the widespread use of magic, as it often led to unintentional fires and massive fortunes in property damage every year.

"I-I'm going to the academies," she added.

The heads suddenly turned away, now thinking that there wasn't much special about Echo. _She's just some minor noble's daughter_, many of them probably thought. Any who did were very wrong, though. Unlike more than sixty percent of the students in Neo Balandor City's academies for magic, Echo was an ordinary commoner who'd gained the skills to pass the entrance exams by building upon the minimal magical techniques that most farmers used for maintaining crops and keeping minor monsters at bay. A high-ranking soldier that had been vacationing in the countryside had seen her practicing and quickly had a teacher come in from the city and assess her skills. He had initially thought that Echo had somehow gotten hold of illegal magical texts. A minor inquiry later, it was clear that Echo merely had an incredible amount of raw talent. Her parents had refused to deny the opportunities provided by a full scholarship to the magic academies. Several months later, Echo was on a train to Neo Balandor City with most of her belongings in the bag at her side.

"Passengers, please take your seats," a calm voice came through the intercom. "We will be arriving shortly. We ask that you please take the time to make sure that you have all of your belongings. Thank you for visiting Neo Balandor City."

(…)

The city was even more spectacular than Echo had imagined. True, the many buildings seemed to rise into the heavens, yet the city still managed to maintain large, wide-open streets that were planted firmly on the ground and others suspended between buildings. Being on the outskirts of the city, Echo was still on the ground. She craned her neck up as she stared at the street signs and looked for the correct pathway to the academies. About ten minutes of staring and one bad neck cramp later, Echo gave up and hopped onto her airboard in the hopes of getting a birds' eye view of the city.

Placing her weight on the back end of the board caused Echo to go upward. She used the side of a building as a ballast as she traveled upwards. She relaxed as the familiar feeling of freedom and the wind blowing through her hair overcame her. All seemed well until a man in blue and gray armor started yelling at her. Echo, realizing that the man was clearly a soldier, stopped and came to him.

"What do you think you're doing?"

She had trouble responding. Echo was used to only speaking when spoken to and when there was a direct need for her to speak. It was a weird habit she seemed to have been born with. "T-trying to find my way to the academies," Echo stammered. "Th-this is my first time in the city."

After checking her papers, the soldier realized that Echo was telling the truth and let her off with a warning. He took his helmet off before speaking, revealing a handsome face, long brownish hair tied into a pony tail, and a thin beard. "Neo Balandor City is a lot more crowded than the country side, little lady. Airboarding is only permitted in the parks and on special roads."

Again, Echo had trouble responding, but not due to shyness; seeing the soldier's face brought out the oddest sense of déjà vu. Much to Echo's astonishment, _he_ was the one who asked, "Have we ever met before?"

Echo shook her head. "I'm not sure. What's your name?"

"I'm Cane Byrne of Neo Balandor City's Enforcement Division. If you'd like, I can show you to one of the roads approved of air vehicles and point you in the direction of the academies."

Echo gladly accepted.

(…)

Alex awkwardly held onto his teacher on their airbike. His heart raced as Donar tried to explain the architecture of the city, how much of the new design style had come to be a few centuries after the Second Yshrenian War, and how the introduction of raised roads for air-vehicles had massively decreased the number of injuries and casualties associated with traffic accidents.

Most of the information flew over the young prince's head.

He was too busy gawking at the city he had only seen from behind the doors of armored cars and bullet-proof windows. Even in daylight, Neo Balandor City glittered like a city out of a fairy tale. It was almost impossible for him to believe that he'd been born and raised in such a magnificent place.

He was abruptly pulled out of his train of thought by the sight of someone floating above their heads. He caught a glimpse of a white jacket and black hair standing atop an airboard as the figure soared above them and landed elegantly a few lanes away.

"What was that?" Alex asked.

"A girl on an airboard."

"N-no, I know what she was, but how'd she do that—that trick?"

"Seeing as there are very few places within the city to practice such tricks, she's likely from the countryside—where the regulations on air vehicles are much lighter. She most likely practiced there."

An Enforcer-issued airbike—one with heavier armor than theirs—came up beside the girl. Suddenly, she was following him as they drifted off through the flow of commuting people. They suddenly exited.

"Looks like they're going to the academies," Donar said.

Alex remembered that after his coming of age, he'd likely have to make regular visits to the academies—likely for graduations and official events. There would be a lot of children his age walking around.

"Can we follow them? To the academies, I mean."

Donar took the same exit they did.

(…)

The academies were a welcome reprieve from the overwhelmingly tall skyscrapers that made up Neo Balandor City. The campus was situated "within" the city, but it seemed to have a massive plot of land dedicated to its campus—one with wide open spaces, beautiful educational facilities, and lawns filled with gardens and the like. The buildings were very old, but still in pristine condition. They seemed to allude to the way the palace looked during the second Yshrenian War—before the Magi crashed that legendary ball the evening the White Knight firs appeared.

Echo thanked officer Byrne and quickly ran to the main library. It was there that she was supposed to meet her roommate and begin a tour of the campus. She stood there, wondering if her tour guide/soon-to-be roommate knew what she looked like. She had only been given a name: Fiona. She had no idea what Fiona would look—

Someone poked Echo in the back. "OH MY!" she gasped as she leapt away. Behind her, a Cat Girl stood with an apologetic smile on her face.

"Sorry about that. I just _had_ to get a good look at that harness you were using to carry your airboard and your"—she gasped—"staff! You're a mage!"

Echo nodded.

"Did you get into the academy on a magic scholarship?"

Echo silently nodded again.

The Cat Girl beamed and hugged her, causing the belongings Echo kept strapped to her back to rattle and create an awkward noise.

"I'm Fiona," she said. "Looks like I got here just in time. I was so excited to find out that my new roommie was going to be a mage! I've done a little bit of magic for the fun of it, but it's not really my area of expertise." Fiona never stopped, never giving Echo a chance to respond. It was especially trying for the new student because, as stated before, she generally only spoke when spoken to. On the occasion that she could speak and didn't get the chance, she, naturally, became rather exasperated.

"Now," Fiona continued. "Before you get the grand tour, can you do me an eensy weensy favor?"

Again, she didn't give Echo a chance to respond. She handed Echo a small, thin cylinder that fit in the palm of her hand. "Could you pump a little magic into that?" Fiona asked.

Echo responded by doing as she was told. Suddenly, the ends of the cylinder extended, markings appeared along its outer coating, and a crescent shape popped out of the top end. Echo barely realized what was happening before the bottom end of the staff jabbed her in the gut. If it had been aimed but a little higher, it might have hit a vital region and Echo would have had to use some emergency healing magic.

As Echo crumped to the ground with the wind knocked clean out of her lungs, Fiona skipped up to her and took the staff. "It worked!" she squealed. "My collapsible staff worked!"

Echo started to pump blue energies into her belly. If she didn't finish the job quickly, there would be a nasty bruise on her gut by the time she woke up the next morning.

"Whoopsie," Fiona sighed. "I should have warned you to keep the ends pointed away from you." She helped Echo up. "As an apology, you can keep the collapsible staff. Just press the button under the crescent to make it go back to normal. But remember, you have to tell me all of your findings on the staff." Fiona looked Echo over. "Have we met before?"

Echo had gotten an odd sense of déjà vu, but had also forgotten it when Fiona's contraption nearly knocked her out.

"Whatever," Fiona sighed as she pulled Echo to her feet. "Lets get you into your new uniform."

(…)

"Does all of the funding for the school come from taxpayer dollars?" Alex asked with a frown. He didn't like putting a strain on his people's pockets unless it had to be done.

Donar didn't respond. He was too busy keeping an eye out for anyone that might have known Alex's face. Although there was a gag order on the press when it came to members of the royal family that hadn't come of age yet, the academies were chalk full of young nobility and the children of servants. Although Alex technically hadn't come of age yet, so his face was unknown to the mass media, there were still servants and nobles that knew his face. Luckily for them, class was in session and there were only a few students or faculty walking around.

I wonder where that airboarder went, Alex wondered. Suddenly, he noticed two girls walking towards him. One with black hair, the other a Cat Girl.

"Donar, are those two—?"

"I've seen the Cat Girl before—she comes from an influential family, but she's never seen your face. The other, I'm pretty sure is a scholarship student from the countryside."

Alex looked at the two girls.

And saw that the black-haired girl had the exact same face as the girl he'd seen in his dreams.

(…)

A few minutes later, Echo was wearing a finely crafted black top and red plaid skirt nearly identical to Fiona's. Echo's had a pad on one shoulder and a red cloth that reached to her waist on it—an indication of her status as a sorcery student. Both their shirts were embroidered with a red-and-white shield—the school logo—over the right breast pocket.

"So," Fiona began, "if we hurry back to the dorms and get you unpacked, we should have just enough time to make it to Global History. Today we're having a special lesson on the Second Dogma War."

Echo always felt strange whenever the Dogma Wars came up. She was hit with an odd…reminiscent feeling—the same one she got whenever a term or event she closely associated with something from her childhood came up. At the same time she felt a sudden pang of sorrow, longing, and even a touch of pride. And then there were the dreams…

"WAIT!"

The two girls stopped in their tracks to see a handsome young man of about their age running towards them. He wasn't in uniform, so he definitely wasn't a student. Another man, clearly a scholar, ran behind him.

"Who's he?" Fiona asked.

Echo shrugged.

The boy stopped right before them and held Echo by the shoulders. He looked over her face. Completely taken aback and unsure of how to respond or what to say, Echo could only mumble a little. The scholar soon arrived and broke the silence.

"Alexan—err—Alex," the scholar stammered.

The boy just stared at her, his eyes as wide as saucer-plates. When he seemed to calm down he started to blush, clearly realizing that he'd created a very awkward situation.

"I—uh—I'm—" he stammered.

Framboise kicked him in the right shin. "If you don't mind, we need to get back to our dorm."

Alex moaned as they walked off. Echo looked back at him as they walked away but didn't speak.


	3. The Fateful Night Draws Near

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own _White Knight Chronicles_. Please support the official release. **

**SPOILERS FOR BOTH GAMES! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**

**Tales of the Stardust Knight**

Chapter Three

The Fateful Night Draws Near

Echo still had trouble getting used to the pristine facilities used at the academies. She sat in a rounded lecture hall with a glass roof that let in the light of the beautiful day outside. The glass itself was enchanted to keep the lecture hall from becoming too hot on sunny days. The walls were a pure white, the floors an extravagant crimson, and the desks—with each row a bit lower than the preceding one to ensure that each student had a perfect view—were an elegant black. In the room, students from the military, science, and magic schools all mingled together. Global History was a class that students of all the different schools were required to take.

Echo sat next to Fiona, furiously writing down notes. She'd started very late in the semester and was determined to catch up. She'd spent most of the previous night pouring over textbooks in order to familiarize herself with material other students knew by heart.

The teacher pressed a few buttons on the table at the lowest level of the room. A circle on the table lit up and massive holograms were projected in mid-air so that every student could see what he wrote down.

"So, students, in honor of the ten-thousandth anniversary of the Second Dogma War, we're going to have a special lesson on important figures from the war." He pressed another button and an image of an old man in an elaborate headdress that boldly displayed the Yshrenian seal on his chest.

"A low-life traitor! He murdered King Valtos!" Echo exclaimed.

Many students started to stare at her. She placed a hand over her mouth. _Where did _that_ come from?_

The teacher gawked at her for a moment before following up. "Yes, he was a traitor. Can you name him?"

"H-High Priest Ledom," she stammered. _Why am I saying these things?_

"No!" another female magic student exclaimed from a few rows behind her. "That's Sarvain—the noble of Balandor who defected to Yshrenia after the Sinca Five rescued Princess Cisna. General Dragias, the Black Knight Ebonwing, was the one that killed Valtos."

The teacher smiled. "You're both right. What many people don't know is that Sarvain was an assumed name that he'd stolen from another noble when replacing him before the Magi's attack on Balandor. His real identity was Ledom, High Priest of the Yshrenian Empire _and _that he also assumed the guise of Dragias at times. However, Dragias was a figurehead whose role many high-ranking Yshrenians assumed. No one is sure whether Ledom was Dragias when the king was murdered."

Echo rubbed her temples. Her head hurt. She heard someone scream, _Father!_

_Murderer!_

_Dragias, I've come to atone for my sins!_

"Echo? Echo, are you all right?" Fiona asked as she placed a hand on her roommate's shoulder.

Echo's head started to pound.

"Echo?"

_Prince!_ someone cried.

"Is there something going on up there?"

_The palace…Was on fire…The palace was on fire! An enormous monoship was floating above it—firing on it!_

"Shall I call the nurse?"

_The prince and the queen…They were running from someone; she could tell who they were based on their clothing. Soldiers were trying to protect them, but they were being picked off by a group of snipers. _

"Is she going to throw up? She looks sick."

_A man in black armor tore through the small group of guards. With two swings of his blade, he brought down the queen and the prince. He stood above their blood-soaked corpses and looked up. _

"Echo, say something!"

_Two Knights were being lifted into the monoship. _

Echo collapsed.

(…)

Echo's vision blurred as her eyes fluttered open. She saw…an unfamiliar roof. She lay underneath several layers of fine linens. A sickening feeling of déjà vu washed over Echo. She suddenly felt afraid. The odd familiarity of the situation filled her with a sense of dread.

"Echo? Are you all right?"

Echo turned her head and saw Fiona and—she gasped—"Cane?"

The police officer modestly rubbed the back of his head, averting her gaze. "Since I was the one that showed you the way here, the academies assumed that I was a friend of yours. When they got a hold of me, I was only told that my friend had collapsed. Naturally, I came running."

Echo was astonished. What were the odds? She sat up and gave Cane an incredulous look. "So now that you know that it wasn't a close friend of yours that collapsed and that I'm all right, why are you still here?"

Cane arched a brow. "You're an intuitive one, aren't you?"

Echo had always had a natural talent for reading people's expressions.

"I've seen what happened to you before."

Fiona blinked. "You have?"

"One of the mages that we employ in the Department of Law Enforcement has gone through the same thing several times. You see, we keep him on our payroll because he has a gift for premonitions. His visions are few and far between, but they're startlingly accurate."

Fiona looked at Echo, clearly excited. "Oh, darn it! I should have been taking notes! Echo, did you see anything? Was your vision clear? Could you tell when it was happening? Tell me about what you felt, and I need to know if this has happened before. Oh—and if this has happened to any of your relatives." Fiona was rambling now. "Oh, if we could replicate the conditions she was in when she had the vision, we just might be able to induce another one!"

"Slow down there, Kitten," Cane said. "Echo hasn't had a chance to put in her two cents."

The officer and the Cat Girl looked at the mage. Echo gulped. "Neither of you are going to be happy about what I saw," she warned them. "No loyal citizen of Balandor would."

"Now I have to know what you saw," Cane said. It wasn't some witty comment. Echo had made it clear that her vision had something to do with the state of affairs in Balandor. Even without knowing the law that governed the land word-for-word, Echo could tell that it was likely an important rule to report any visions of serious events.

Echo gulped again. "I saw the Crown Prince and Queen being assassinated. As the castle was under attack."

Fiona's jaw dropped. Cane walked to the dressers opposite the two beds in the room. "Which dresser is yours, Echo?"

Fiona answered for her. "The one on the right."

Cane searched through the drawers.

"What are you doing?" Fiona demanded. "That's a violation of Echo's privacy!"

Cane found Echo's uniform and threw it onto her bed. "Get dressed. I have to take you to headquarters. My superiors need to hear this."

(…)

"POMPOUS BUFFOONS!" Cane bellowed.

Echo sat and maintained the perpetual smile she generally used to hide her emotions. Despite her smiling face, she was just as angry as Cane. Upon hearing of Echo's vision, Cane's commanding officer, Reginald Carson, treated her like a little girl. He'd patronized her, implied that he believed the vision had been induced by some sort of foreign substance, and had gone as far as to question Echo's skills with magic and her scholarship to the academies.

Fiona was just as furious. "How could he say such a thing? Questioning the integrity of the academies! Why, I have half a mind to report him!" Fiona looked at Cane. "This concerns the safety of the royal family! Why wouldn't he take this seriously?"

"Carson also has a lot to do with palace security. Your vision implies that the security measures he currently employs are inadequate because the vision means that someone can and might get through the city's defenses and into the palace. My guess is that he plans on keeping all of this quiet and beefing up the security from the sidelines."

Fiona continued to voice her disdain for Carson as Cane had the two girls enter a police cruiser. He'd taken them all this way for nothing, so offering them a ride back to the academies was the least he could do.

The Cat Girl suddenly gasped. "That's it! Echo, did you see any indication as to the time or the date that the vision took place?"

"Imbecile! I'm an imbecile!" Cane exclaimed. "Why didn't I think of that before?"

Echo thought back to the vision. "It was night. There were a lot of people in the palace, someone that resembled the current Duke of Greede, there were some Farian officials. Even some people from Thanos and Terrana.

The latter two nations were relatively young ones that had appeared a few centuries after the Second Dogma War. Since the introduction of the Super Highway and widespread use of air vehicles for travel, Albana's importance had died away and the city had become nothing more than an archeological site.

"So this happens during an important event at the palace?" Cyrus said as he rounded a corner and the academies came into view. "That's going to do _wonders_ for the Security Committee's image!" he groaned in a sarcastic tone.

Cane pulled into the academies' parking lot and led the two girls through the gate. Upon Framboise's insistence, Cane followed them into the school. She explained, "The academies have some of the best data libraries and information storages in existence. Scholars from all over the world travel to Balandor just to get some references from their materials. We might be able to find some clues."

They traveled to the libraries. It was an enormous tower that rivaled the ring of skyscrapers surrounding the palace in terms of height. It was an elegant building made to allude to the palace before the many additions that had been used in the last ten millennia while still using the simplified modern style that had been popular a few centuries ago, when the academies were first founded. In recent decades, combining the two styles to make structures that are breathtaking and push the envelope in terms of color and design had become the norm.

Cane kept is complaints of having to return to his work to himself as Fiona went into a detailed explanation of the library's history. Echo maintained her usual smile. They eventually came to the planetarium and observatory, the dome that topped the building. The room had a three-dimensional projector similar to the one Echo's teacher had been using earlier that day, only it acted as a floating sphere in the middle of the room. The roof was covered with an elaborate map of the stars and heavenly bodies surrounding the earth.

"My ancestor likely would have had this finished in her time if it weren't for the Second Dogma War," Fiona explained.

Echo nodded. Framboise the Cat Girl was widely acknowledged across the planet as a genius that was ages ahead of her time. Some claimed that her genius rivaled that of the unknown artisans who created the Yshrenian Knights twenty millennia prior.

Fiona pressed the illuminated buttons on the panel beneath the sphere. The stars and heavenly bodies began to shift.

"This is what the stars should look like today. Were they any different from what you saw in your vision?"

Echo looked up, utterly stunned. "No." she said. "They didn't look any different." And she wasn't guessing. Her grandmother was very superstitious. The old woman would always tell young Echo that she had a greater destiny and point to the heavens, telling her how the arrangement of the stars proved this. Echo even had a few astronomy classes at the academies. She knew how to read the heavens.

"So this is going to happen soon? In a party at the palace that's not a long ways away?" Fiona fanned herself with her hands as she bounced on her toes. As much as she hated to admit it, this was positively exhilarating! It was like a political thriller!

"But the only upcoming party in the palace is…"

The two girls looked at Cane expectantly.

"The Crown Prince's Coming of Age Ball. Tomorrow night."


End file.
